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 Charisma
Carpenter is a name we all know. After all, how could
we forget the actress who brought the iconic character of
Cordelia from both the Buffy and Angel
series to life?
Charisma has put her mark on many other shows and roles,
both on film and TV, and now she's bringing her talent to
ABC Family and their smash hit show, The Lying
Game.
Charisma will play Char's Aunt Annie who has returned to
town after many years, bringing back old memories and secrets
that Alec and Ted would prefer to keep in the past. Sounds
like she'll be bringing some good drama with her to this
new season of secrets, seduction and life-and-death stakes!
PCM had the chance to participate in a call with Charisma
where she chatted about her role on the show, her upcoming
projects and she may have even brought up Cordelia. Definitely
take a look below to find out everything she had to share
with us!
The Lying Game premieres its new
season Monday, January 2 at 9 PM on ABC Family.
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Can you give us some insight into why Annie has been
gone so long and her relationship with Phyllis?
Her relationship with Phyllis is sister. She's been gone
so long because I think when she was there, she was in high
school, and things did not go well for her. She was very-well,
treated poorly, not well received. I think some very bad
things happened to her and what they are exactly has not
at this point been revealed to me. It's just touched on
a little bit here and there.
But when she does come back, she is a completely different
looking person in appearance and obviously, she's monetarily
better off. I guess she was in Los Angeles running a music
company with her husband, who she is no longer with. She
thought she would go back home and start fresh, to everyone
else's chagrin.
How do you approach a character like Annie who knows
so many secrets about people like Ted and Alec?
I think it's not about them, I think it's about her is
the way I would approach it. It being sort of like just
focusing each interaction one at a time and knowing what
my overall purpose is to be there and it's a fresh start.
So, it's positive and it's up and it's a good thing. To
play it any other way would really not-it would just be
a different show.
I mean, part of The Lying Game is appearances aren't
always what they seem. I think if you go into it being difficult
or giving too much attitude or whatever, there are not a
lot of places to go with that. She's optimistic. She wants
a change. She's open to befriending those people that weren't
nice to her when she was younger and starting new. I think
she comes from a place of confidence and success and she
has nothing to apologize for and she's interested in opening
those doors again.
What is it about the role that really drew you to wanting
to be a part of it? Are you looking to enter into another
television show as a regular or is there something about
this role that you couldn't pass up as a guest star?
I am definitely interested in finding a home, for sure.
And it was not introduced to me that way. It was a recurring
opportunity to be on a show and if more comes of it, it
would be a welcome surprise but not my intention.
I was drawn to the complexity of a character that is not
all that she seems which I'm a little bit familiar with;
but not too much because Cordelia, really, from Buffy
and Angel, if I were to compare the two characters,
was way more up front. She was like a soothsayer. She just
said what was on her mind. You always knew where you stood
with things. She'll give you advice when you don't even
want to hear it.
I think this character, Annie Rebecca Sewell, is not so
forthcoming with what she's really thinking, but you know
that there are wheels spinning behind her eyes. I'm thinking
this but I'm really not going to say it. And I think that
also happens with age. You filter a little better.
 Rebecca
definitely has her filters and her radar highly tuned. She's
smarter, wiser, sophisticated. Apparently, she's a little
moneyed up. She's lived and survived a lot, especially socially.
The way she was treated when she was younger affected her
in a way that either you sink or swim, and apparently she
swam.
And now she's back to these choppy waters to sort of navigate
them and see what she can make out of it. I mean, I feel
like her intentions are to set things right for herself
mainly, but not in a vindictive, revenge way because then
that gets into a whole other show altogether. I think what
her intention is really is like one of her lines recently
to Kristin was, "Between you and me, it is really fun
to be back and turning heads." She never turned heads
in the past and she was really mistreated by her peers.
So, it's nice to come back on top. It feels good and I don't
think she's really going to be willing to let that go anytime
soon.
We know that you're a part of the network with Twitter
and I'm wondering how the interaction with fans comes into
play with your projects. Is it a great way for you to not
only interact with fans, but also promote the projects or
get that instant feedback from fans about your projects?
You know, it's a double-edged sword, the social media,
because I've gotten in trouble for either announcing too
soon something that the network or the studio wanted to
do and it takes away from.
So it is something like it's okay to tease but I'm sort
of like well, oh goodness, I said too much and I'm so sorry
and I've had to apologize and like say, "Oops, I didn't
mean to do that." Or what is that expression where
you just, you steal some of the thunder, so to speak. You
don't mean to do that.
But, it's hard because it's like these are my fans and
I want to give my fans what they want to hear and that is
I'm on television and I'm going to be back on the show and
I really want you to watch and you're going to have fun
doing it and you're going to see more a grownup, sophisticated
version of Cordelia, who you are familiar with. I think
you'll see a lot of similarities between the two, but they're
not, by any means, the same character.
How familiar were you with the whole lying game phenomenon
when you were first invited to join the cast?
Not at all; not at all. In fact, I had no idea what "the
lying game" meant and I'm still missing the last five
episodes of the first ten. So, obviously, I've got the first
five and then I've got episodes ten through sixteen down,
but I'm missing five there. I was given the link but I can't
get the link to work on my Mac, so I'm a little bit challenged
in that regard.
I'm not that familiar with it; what it means. I've been
exposed to it a little bit, but I don't know in what sense
it's a game. Like why is it a game? I don't know. I understand
Sutton introduced it.
Was there anybody that took you under their wing and
helped you get assimilated and get into the entire universe
of the show?
I would probably say it started at the top with Chuck.
Chuck really-I read the script and I called him and I just
said that I just have some questions about her and how she
fits in and who is this Annie, and now my name is Annie
and I don't what that means. How will that be explained
to the audience and will that be more confusing or less
confusing? Who am I? What did I do?
So he walked me through it and he was pretty generous,
was willing to tell me whatever it is that I needed to understand,
but there did come a point where I'm like, "Okay, don't
tell me anymore. I don't want to know any more than just
what you said because I don't want it to inform my performance
in a way that would reveal too much." It doesn't assist
you to know more than you should, because then you're not
playing it right.
Or you can be informed and you can have the information,
but then you have to play against that information. And
then it becomes more confusing and more complicated than
maybe it need be. I just like to keep it simple, keep it
simple, play it very earnestly and straightforward with
the information I have at hand, unless I'm told otherwise.
How is the chemistry on the set of The Lying Game
and how are you enjoying that?
It's one of the best sets I've been on. It's probably
on par with my experience on Veronica Mars. A lot
of young kids with a great deal of pressure and responsibility
just killing it every day. They get it. They're appreciative.
There is no diva. There is no attitude. There are no hang
ups. Everybody, everybody, I mean everybody, has a fantastic
outlook.
I think too, it helps like in this economy, everybody is
really appreciative to be working. It's not lost on them.
It's really a wonderful thing to see such young people taking
on such huge responsibilities and jobs and hours and just
do it with such grace. I really have been impressed a great
deal. And Alexandra Chando without exception. She's mid-20s
and she's not one character, two characters.
It's a fantastic environment. The chemistry is great. The
crew is great. I love working with Adrian. He's crackly.
He's incensed; like he's on fire. He's like going to ignite
at any moment. One little bit of accelerant and he's just
going to blow up. He's so alive and his energy is just-it's
impossible to ignore.
Every time he'll give you a line and you might have in
your mind a way that the scene would be going or the way
he would say something, but no. And then you'll do the same
thing again and it won't be the same way either. And that,
for me, just brings my level of acting up. I think for sure
when you see the season, you will see it. You will see what
I'm talking about. It's an amazing work experience for me.
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